Fables mastermind Bill Willingham has a post up on Clockwork Storybook about Dark Wolverine writer and all-round nice person Marjorie Liu’s four rules of writing.
While I won’t give the whole thing away, here’s a nice excerpt, on getting to the point:
Don’t worry about theme, or style, or any other extraneous nonsense, and just tell a clear story. Let your readers eventually decide those other matters. And, if you run into trouble between two wonderfully crafted scenes that need to be connected, just write the minimum material you need to do that, almost like notes to yourself on what needs to happen, and that should remove the blockage. Later on you may find that it’s the simple terse connecting material that is the better stuff and those two artfully constructed passages are what needs to go, or at least be slimmed down.
Interesting stuff, from both Liu’s original rules to Willingham expanding upon them for all of us. If you’re interested in getting more tips on the craft of storytelling, check out Willingham and company’s blog here, and Liu’s blog right here — it’s definitely a treasure trove full of links and advice.
